Press Release – Staff
A customised AI tool that helps with rapid and scale accurate reporting on public documents such as city council minutes, filings and government reports is being piloted by Stuff Group. The Democracy AI tool gives journalists the ability to:
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A customised AI tool that helps with accurate reporting of public documents such as city council minutes, submissions and government reports quickly and at scale is being piloted by Stuff Group.
Democracy AI tools allow journalists to scan, prioritise and report on large volumes of hyper-local decision-making documents, giving communities a much clearer picture of what’s going on in their local government.
Joanna Norris, managing director of Stuff Masthead Publishing, said AI tools would require closer scrutiny from journalists but would enable greater coverage of important democratic processes.
“Democracy is the ability of people to participate in decision-making, but that ability is diminished if they don't know exactly what is happening, where and when,” she says.
“The GPT tool uses official parliamentary and government documents as source data to scan news and decisions, and our pilots have shown that it can streamline parts of the news gathering and writing process, allowing reporters to focus on polishing and adding depth to their stories.”
Waikato Times editor Jonathan MacKenzie said he was initially sceptical but was amazed at the speed at which AI-assisted journalists were able to work.
“With 11 municipalities in our coverage area, this tool is a win-win for our widely dispersed readers and our newsroom,” he says. “With an army of worker bees happily at work, our reporters can focus on the more complex, meaningful stories that provide context for our readers' daily lives.”
“It's much better for staff to get out there and talk to people and find news than to sit at a desk and read parliamentary agendas. In my experience, the best journalism comes when there's more time to do research on the ground. AI support makes it possible to do just that.”
The Democracy AI tool has been piloted for several weeks, generating content that is constantly cross-referenced with source documents by journalists. After the trial period, the team is preparing the content for use in print.
The tool allows you to edit articles of different lengths and formats, write summaries and headlines, and enable a seamless transition from digital to print. Waikato Local As the title suggests, this tool promotes a column called “Ratepayer Roundup.”
“AI is a powerful tool for journalists, eliminating time-consuming manual processes and allowing reporters to focus on the high-impact investigative reporting, local human interest stories and analysis that AI can't deliver,” Norris said. “AI brings the kind of efficiencies that other technological advances have brought for years. I'm old enough to remember when email was introduced into newsrooms, and I feel this is transformative.”
“But we need to make sure we're using AI correctly, with clear checks and balances, comprehensive training for our teams, and ensuring all content complies with our Code of Editorial Practice and Ethics. This includes communicating to our audiences where and how AI is being used.”
The tool was developed by Norris, who was taking part in Section's AI for Business programme with New Zealand business leaders.
Once the two-month pilot is complete, the Stuff team will continue working on refining the tool before evaluating rolling it out to other newsrooms within the group.
“Our mission is to contribute to making Aotearoa better, and the best way to do that is to find innovative and accountable ways to hold public representatives, parliaments and governments to account,” Norris said.
“This is AI for the people, improving the hyperlocal news we publish and allowing our journalists to focus on unique content that AI can't provide.”
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